With its Movie Business in Shambles, Star Wars Needs Bethesda for an Open World Battlefront 3

Nobody is hush-hush about the fact that Star Wars as a franchise has stumbled hard over the years. With one financial failure after another and inconsistent storytelling, its reputation, once unshakable, has all been tarnished in cinema.

The gaming side of the galaxy far, far away isn’t faring much better either, with Outlaws being a massive financial disappointment. But here’s what we think: in the midst of all these failures, there exists an opportunity for redemption with a different game development studio that’s waiting to welcome the IP through its doors.

Bethesda Could Potentially Be “A New Hope” for Star Wars in Gaming

“But, Starfield this and Starfield that—” Look, we get it. At the same time, however, and despite its flaws, that game did prove that the studio has the ambition to tackle the great unknown of space exploration. Plus, seeing as how Ubisoft is still recovering from the disaster that followed after the underwhelming response to Outlaws, an open-world Star Wars concept still remains available for developers to grab.

Todd Howard’s team, with its history of expansive sci-fi landscapes (Starfield and even the later Fallout games), could be the key to unlocking this concept’s full potential.

So here’s our pitch: while Battlefront has always thrived as a multiplayer IP, Bethesda’s skill in world-building and storytelling potential could add layers to a potential Battlefront 3 that will elevate the series way beyond all its past iterations.

Now, yes, creating a multiplayer title with a single-player open world is a different beast than something like Starfield. Not to mention, the studio still needs to prove itself by creating a competent multiplayer experience—sorry, Fallout 76, but you don’t count.

But we truly believe that Bethesda’s rich history, along with a good level of player support, could open the door to limitless possibilities for the space-faring IP on the gaming front, from custom large-scale battles to unique planet exploration.

It’s all speculative, of course, but the chance for Bethesda to innovate with a fresh approach to Battlefront 3 feels like a calculated risk worth taking. Plus, it also gives Bethesda an opportunity to take a breather from its 20-year-old game engine.

The Star Wars IP Could Also Save Bethesda From Its Creative Bankruptcy

We all know that the studio’s roadmap currently seems to center around its next Elder Scrolls and Fallout titles, both long-standing pillars of the studio’s history.

However, after nearly two decades of sticking to similar gameplay designs, loops, and processes, Starfield has also shown that the studio could really benefit from breaking away from, well, itself.

When you think about it like that, an open-world Star Wars project with multiplayer elements feels like the perfect chance to give the developers a much-needed reset, all while breathing life back into the Battlefront franchise.

Taking on such an iconic universe could also help these folks remember what made their early Elder Scrolls titles so special, giving the developers not only fresh ideas to work with but also the chance to go back to the roots and reinforce the foundations once more.

Considering that, a potential collaboration between their open-world expertise and Star Wars’ intergalactic narrative feels like a match made in heaven, and we hope that it’s only a matter of time before all this tinfoil-hat stuff turns into a reality.

With all that said, though, what are your thoughts on this? What other AAA studio could handle Star Wars, in your opinion? Let us know in the comments below!